


Spring

by keitaiijima



Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types, Battle Royale - Takami Koushun
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25252201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keitaiijima/pseuds/keitaiijima
Summary: Summary: The last Spring of Keita Iijima’s life. His friendship with Shinji changed and he doesn’t quite understand why.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	Spring

**Author's Note:**

> Keita is not very bright.  
> This is probably the first serious Keita fic I've written. I'm branching out from crack?  
> Edit: Also edited it because even after all these years in the fandom, the timeline got me confused for a moment.

**Spring 1997  
March**

“ _Another_ alien movie? Please, I can’t take it anymore,” Yoshitoki Kuninobu sighed, throwing a pillow over his face. Yutaka Seto grinned to him, waving the DVD in front of his face.  
“Sorry, not sorry. This is the kind of documentaries we need to watch to-“  
“- No, stop. Did you say _documentary_?” Hiroki Sugimura asked in disbelief, as he looked at the cover of the clearly fictional sci-fi movie in Yutaka’s hands.  
Yutaka frowned, pretending to be confused at Hiroki’s question. “Yeah?”  
It was the first weekend of March, and the last semester of their second year in Junior High was soon coming to an end. Keita Iijima was gathered with his friends at Yutaka’s place, to watch a movie and play some games. In addition to Yoshitoki and Hiroki, Shinji Mimura and Shuya Nanahara were also there.  
  
Shuya was seated on a beanbag on the floor, tuning his guitar which he carried around with him from time to time.  
“Just put it on. You’ll fall asleep anyway halfway through,” he joked to Yoshitoki, who rolled his eyes.  
“I only fell asleep that one time! One time! Are we never letting it go?” he sighed. “It had been a long day.”  
“And I thought _I_ was the lame one,” Hiroki joked, causing Yoshitoki to groan again as the others laughed.  
“Fine, I give up. Let’s just play some Nintendo?” Yutaka suggested instead, tossing the DVD down onto the sofa.  
“We’ll do your movie, little guy. We can always tune out the haters,” Shinji said with a smirk, patting the spot next to him for Yutaka to sit down.  
  
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Keita shot up, excited.  
“The pizzas are here!” he called out eagerly. The others looked at each other in confusion.  
“Wait, when did we order pizza?” Shuya asked, thinking back to what he had missed. He did not think he had spaced out that bad.  
“Well, we didn’t… I did!” Keita corrected him as he grabbed a wallet, ready to go get it. “You can’t have a guy’s night without pizza. That’s like…a crime against nature.”  
As he ran to the door, the others exchanged nervous glances.  
“If Iijima was in charge of the pizzas –“ Yoshitoki began.  
“- That means they will all be Hawaiian!” Yutaka finished, his eyes wide. “ _That’s_ the true crime against nature!” The two of them sighed, realizing no one would get to enjoy these except Keita. Shinji chuckled.  
“Come on. You can just pick the pineapple off. It’s not too bad,” he said in Keita’s defence, despite not being a big fan of Hawaiian either. Hiroki nodded in agreement.  
“At least he got us pizza. That’s nice, right?”  
  
Keita returned, carrying two boxes of pizza in his arms, with a big grin on his face.  
“Guess what I haw-aiian here?” he asked, in a lame attempt of a pun. Yutaka shook his head.  
“Don’t. Don’t do that. It doesn’t work with you!” he joked, trying to save the reputation of the puns.  
Keita laughed, throwing the wallet into Hiroki’s hands. “Thanks for paying, man. You’re the best!” he said with a wink, as Hiroki frowned slightly.  
“Well…”  
“’At least he got us pizza’, huh?” Shuya whispered to him, laughing.

Staring up the movie, the boys gathered on the sofa and the floor, most of them picking the pineapple off the pizza as they half-watched the crazy alien invasion on the screen (with Yutaka constantly reminding them “this could totally happen, I swear”).  
The movie was so idiotic, they had to give up trying not to laugh at the parts that were supposed to be scary. Keita preferred it like this anyway; who wanted to be scared if you could just laugh, instead?

* * *

A few weeks later, Keita found himself really excited for the upcoming Saturday. He was going to the movies in Takamatsu with Shinji and Yutaka, seeing the latest blockbuster hit. Well, it was not as much a hit as a total flop. And not really a blockbuster either, but an indie thriller movie he and Yutaka had been hyping up to Shinji for months. Keita loved the kind of movies that were so bad they were… Not good. So bad they were worse than what you expected. And that made it entertaining.  
Unfortunately, Yutaka had come down with a cold and could not go with them. Although he missed his little buddy, Keita was also in some ways even more excited now. He rarely spent any alone time with Shinji, but he always kind of wanted to. As much as he liked all his friends, Shinji was the kind of guy he genuinely wanted to impress. This was his day! His moment! _Don’t blow it, Keita,_ he told himself, peeking over at Shinji throughout the movie, wondering if he was actually enjoying himself too.

After the movie, the two of them had stopped by a comic bookstore. Keita knew Shinji was not really into these things, so he was happy to see he still went with him. Keita suggested some series for Shinji, who had laughed in response.  
“I’d rather get laid, sorry,” he joked, as Keita shrugged. As a 14 year old boy, he would rather read mangas. Was that weird?  
They visited a couple of more shops, looking at records and some used books. Shinji even found some that he bought. Keita did not quite understand how those computer books were less nerdy than his mangas, but Shinji seemed happy about them.

On their way to the station, Keita bit his lips.  
“Hey… I can’t stop thinking about that one Gundam manga. Do I have time to run back and get it?” he asked, glancing at his watch. He was not really often in town, and it would suck to lose this one chance to stack up on comics.  
Shinji shrugged. “Yeah, sure. We got like twenty minutes. Worst comes to worst, next train is in an hour,” he commented. He did not seem to stressed about it, so Keita went back without too much of a guilty conscience.

Quickly picking his comic up, he was about to join Shinji at the station, when he saw it. Shinji was surrounded by three guys, a lot bigger than he was; probably in high school. Keita froze, staring as he saw one of the guys punching Shinji in the face. His mouth falling open, Keita automatically retracted, turning back around the corner from where he had just emerged. Without thinking, he headed back to the bookstore.  
_Holy shit, a fight,_ he thought, eyes still wide as he mindlessly browsed the manga section. Should he do something? What could he even do? He had never been in a fight before. He was not particularly strong. The idea of being hit like how Shinji had just been, made his heart jump with fear. He was a coward and he knew it.  
  
At least he could call someone… But he did not even own a cellphone. Keita peaked up at the cashier, wondering if he should ask to borrow the shop’s phone to call the police or something. Wait, he remembered Shinji had said he did not really trust the police, either. _So who could I…  
_As he was trying to think of a good course of action, he heard someone behind him.  
“Hey.”  
It was Shinji. Turning around, Keita’s eyes widened as he saw the blood on his lip. With no real sense as to _why_ , he could hear the lie escape his mouth:  
“Oh, sorry, I remembered another book I wanted… What happened to you?”  
Keita wanted to smack himself for this horrible excuse, but it was too late now. He had lied and it was too embarrassing to correct himself.  
Shinji looked at him for a moment, his expression impossible to read. Finally, he shrugged.  
“Let’s go home,” he said simply, and Keita nodded.

The mood was a little tense, despite Keita trying to crack some bad jokes on the train, hoping to ease it. He assumed Shinji was just in a bad mood because of how he had been jumped. It had nothing to do with _him_ , right? Shinji did not blame him for having gone back for another book, right? There was no way Shinji knew this was a lie, so why would he be angry at him?  
These thoughts were running through Keita’s mind as they pulled up to Shiroiwa station. One thing was for certain; Shinji did not seem too impressed with their day out alone together.

Keita was sure it would pass soon enough.

* * *

**May**

_The Program_.  
Keita felt the cold sense of panic ever since he woke up and realized where he was. He pinched himself repeatedly, hoping to wake up and discover that this was all just a highly realistic dream. He had those sometimes; it was always disappointing to wake up after dreaming he had been going on an alpaca ride or scored a date with Chigusa. However, now he wanted nothing more but to wake up. And he could not. The reality of it really hit him after Yoshitoki was shot. Keita cried out as his friend’s body hit the floor, the sight feeling too gruesome to be real. But it was. It was the realest thing Keita had ever seen. He felt like throwing up, but his body did nothing. He was frozen.

 _I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, oh shit, I’m gonna die,_ were the words repeating in his head as he listened to Sakamochi explain the rules, as he wrote down the names of his classmates that he was supposed to kill ( _This is crazy! I’m not gonna kill anyone! I don’t think I could even if I wanted to_ ), and finally, as he heard Yoshio Akamatsu’s name called.  
Keita just had four minutes before his own name was called. Four minutes. It might as well have been four seconds. Time sped up and stood still all at the same time. Nervously, he looked around the classroom. His heart was beating like crazy, but still, as he laid his eyes on Yutaka, and then on Shinji, he felt himself relax somewhat.  
Okay. All he had to do was to find them. If he found Yutaka and Shinji… Even Shuya and Hiroki too. If he found his friends then… _It would be okay_.  
When his own name was called, Keita expected his knees to buckle as he stood up, but somehow, his legs did not completely fail him. He made eye contact with Yutaka, who he noticed had tears in his eyes. Keita realized that he did, too.  
He noted that Shinji did not look up to meet his gaze, but knowing the Third Man, he was probably too busy laying some kind of masterplan for their escape anyway. If anyone would do that, it was Shinji.

Keita spent the majority of the first day staying in hiding. He knew he should probably check different houses and buildings if he hoped to find his friends but truth was, he felt way too scared. By the first announcement at 6 AM, nine students had already died. Not just died; _been killed_. If only one or two had died, then Keita might have been able to believe it was suicide or something. But someone was definitely playing the game. And although he wanted to see his friends more than anything, he was not prepared to have to face one of the players.

However, as evening and thus darkness came creeping, his fear was gradually being replaced by something else. Loneliness. Dodging every new danger zone, hiding behind whatever corner he could find, Keita could feel himself falling into exhaustion. He was not used to being this sleep deprived, this scared, or this alone. With every announcement, he was close to tears, just praying his friends names would not be on the list. And with every announcement, they were not. That was his only comfort. And it was then, after the 12 AM announcement at the dawn of the game’s second day, he saw it. A faint light, followed by familiar voices.

Keita had been hiding near a farm, when he heard the unmistakable hushed voices of his friends; Shinji and Yutaka. For the first time since the game started, Keita felt something close to relief. He let out a quiet laugh to himself. _Thank God! Finally, oh my God_.  
Quietly coming out of his hiding spot, he had his knife tightly clutched in one hand, the other hand making a fist. He felt a little nervous, without knowing why. He was safe now. He would finally be safe.  
  
As his head peeped out from the side of the house, he saw Shinji reacting quickly, as he pulled Yutaka back by the arm and raised his own. Keita took a deep breath as he realized Shinji was pointing a gun at him.  
“Don’t shoot! Please, Mimura. Don’t shoot! It’s me, Iijima!”  
To his relief, Yutaka sounded excited to see him. He seemed confused as to why Shinji was still pointing the gun at Keita; and Keita felt confused, too. He decided to keep talking, hopefully being able to convince Shinji he did not mean any harm. Although, he could not quite understand why Shinji would consider him a threat in the first place.  
“I saw the light…” He continued, pausing as he took a few uncertain steps forwards.  
“And I saw it was the two of you… What are you guys doing? What are you carrying? Rope? Can I… Can’t I join you?”  
Keita knew he was beginning to rant now. He had no real interest about the rope and equipment they had; he was mainly just making conversation. The longer the gun was pointed at him, the more nervous he felt. He was wrecking his brain to try to understand why on earth Shinji would be so hesitant to trust him. This whole time he had hoped to see them, and they…  
“Hello!” Keita called out louder now, as Yutaka and Shinji were only talking to each other. “Why are you pointing that at me, Mimura?”  
Finally, Shinji spoke to him. However, the words he said felt like a knife to his heart: “Don’t move!”  
  
Keita took another step forward, his expression now one of pure desperation.  
“Why… Why are you doing this? Have you forgotten who I am, Mimura? Let me join you!”  
He felt like he was in some kind of crazy alternative reality. As if the Program in itself was not crazy enough, now he had to deal with the fact that someone he considered a good friend was pointing a gun at him, telling him to go away. It just was not fair. Of course, Shinji and Yutaka had always been best friends, just like Shuya and Yoshitoki had been. They had ultimately been duos. And Hiroki had Takako, so he never had to worry about being left out in the cold either. However, Keita always had that tiny suspicion that maybe, just maybe, he was the one who did not quite fit in. Who was not always welcome. And now that this suspicion was being confirmed, his heart felt like it was breaking.  
“I thought we were friends… Why don’t you trust me?” Keita pleaded. It was too late to give up anyway. He could not go back to being alone. He could not go back to the darkness, to hiding, to wait to die.  
He could hear Yutaka try to reason with Shinji, but Shinji would not hear it. Just like Keita had made up his mind not to turn around and leave, Shinji had obviously made up his mind to _not_ let him join.  
  


Finally, it was as if something clicked. What had happened a few months ago… Shinji had seemed a little distant at times after, but Keita had tried to make up all kinds of excuses as to why. The fact that he had let his friend down so bad had been too painful to really take in. Keita had tried to forget it even happened, to the point where… He kind of had forgotten.  
But right now, it seemed like the only explanation.  
“Is it… Because of what happened that time? When I ran away? Is that why?” he asked, his voice quivering. “Is that why you don’t believe me?”  
As Shinji just kept aiming the gun at him, Keita felt himself choke up. He knew tears were forming in his eyes, and he wanted nothing more but to go back in time and change everything.  
“Mimura… I’m sorry, Mimura. Please forgive me…”  
Taking slow steps forwards, he did not even notice Shinji getting increasingly more tense. In fact, the words he shouted (“DON’T COME ANY CLOSER!”) hardly even registered with him. He could not slow down now. He could not go back. He _wanted_ his friends. He _needed_ his friends.  
  


When Shinji fired the first shot, a warning shot by his feet, it made Keita freeze up for a second. He watched the smoke, trying to understand the whole situation. However, he soon returned to moving forwards, in the same mechanical way.  
“Let me join you. Please,” he begged again.  
Shinji’s next shot changed everything. It was as if everything happened in slow motion. Keita felt something hit him in the chest. He had obviously never been shot before, and he was not sure what he expected it to feel like, but it was not this. For a moment, he wondered if Shinji had just thrown something at him, but as his body hit the ground, he understood that he had in fact shot him. He could hear Yutaka cry out, but the world was very quickly disappearing around him.

The last thing flashing through Keita’s mind, was not memories of the Program, of his fear and loneliness, or of Shinji pointing the gun at him.  
No, he was grateful to find that the last image that came to his mind before it shut down, was the image of all of them together at Yutaka’s that day in March which now seemed so long ago. And as everything turned to black, Keita was happy that he finally was with his friends.


End file.
